Shanxi Bada Tao

Shanxi bada tao are large wind-and-pipe suites of northern Shanxi, led by the guanzi and built from eight sets of tunes.

Related

GuanziShengSuonaQupai

Time and place

Bada tao is played in Wutai, Dingxiang, Yuanping and Xinzhou in northern Shanxi. Since the Ming and Qing, drum houses and temple bands have performed it, close to the music of Mount Wutai. Weddings, funerals, temple fairs, rain prayers and New Year all call for a band, playing under a canopy through the night.

Musical features

The guanzi leads, with sheng, flute, drum, small cymbals and cloud gongs. Each of the eight sets has its own tunes and fixed order, strung in slow and fast sections; the pieces are long and the drum marks the joins. The guanzi carries melody and ornament, the sheng adds chords, and the flute crosses above. Scores use gongche notation, taught by ear from master to pupil.

Repertoire

The eight sets are Song of the Clear Sky, Admonition, Pushing the Millstone, Twelve Storeys, Scolding the Fisherman, Raising the Golden Cup, The Goose and Eight Beats, with Song of the Clear Sky the most often played.

What to listen for

Begin with the guanzi's colour, darker than a shawm and thicker than a flute. Hear how the sheng lays a chord beneath it. Then follow the joins between sections, as the slow music unfolds phrase by phrase and the fast music is driven by drum and cymbals.

Common misunderstandings

Bada tao is often assumed to be eight tunes. The eight are suites, each holding several tunes. Nor is it only temple music; village drum houses play it too, with small differences in repertoire and occasion.

Sources

• 《中国音乐词典》编辑部编，中国音乐词典（人民音乐出版社）— 条目与年代核对，未引用
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "China" — framework and dates checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.